How to run a thread for a given time period and then return in Java?

Question

I want to create a thread that listens for packets for a given time period (say 30 seconds) and then returns any messages that are received whilst listening. I can do the packet collection stuff, but what is the code pattern for the threading / blocking code that lets the asynch activity run for some set time period?

thanks

Answer 1

It depends on the code you are using to listen for packets, but basically (in pseudocode):

while(remainingTime > 0) {
   packet = listenForPackets(remainingTime);
   remainingTime = (initialTime + 30) - currentTime;
}

Answer 2

This is a duplicated question of

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/833889/start-thread-with-a-given-execution-time